The Tacoma Towing Bible

Does anyone have a ballpark estimate how much it should cost for a class 4 hitch, wiring, brake controller, oil cooler, and transmission cooler? The truck is an 05 double cab prerunner with 4.0L v6. Thanks.

 

Depends on if you're looking for a factory setup or aftermarket. Factory? Don't bother unless you have deep pockets. The oil coolers alone are $500 each for 2 IIRC. Lotust on Toyotanation.com did that or at least started it. I don't know if he ever finished it before trading for a Tundra, but he was up to $1,500 last I heard.

I think you can did aftermarket oil coolers, but I've heard some of them leak so you'd have to find a good one.

Tranny coolers you can install yourself from what I've heard. People seem to think they are fairly easy and inexpensive.

Finally, if you want a true tow package or the full class 4 setup with 7-pin harness you'll need to snake all the wiring from the engine back, upgrade the battery, and get a bigger alternator.

I suppose you could skip the battery and alternator, but Toyota put them in the factory setup for a reason so..... Either way, I'm betting the bigger alt would Cost $200-$400 alone right there.

IMHO, it would've been better to buy the truck with the tow package than try to piece it on afterward.

 

Thanks, I already own the tacoma and bought it used so the tow package wasnt an option. I called my local toyota dealer and the guy referred me to a local hitch shop saying it would be way cheaper They said I think $800 for class 4 hitch, wiring, transmission cooler, oil cooler, brake controller, and all the labor. Sounds pretty good to me, I dont know if the alternator and battery are included in that. The truck already has a 4 pin and class 3 hitch from uhaul that I had installed, but Im just gonna replace the hitch and sell it.

 

Good luck with that. Seems hard to believe an aftermarket shop can do it for less than what Toyota offers to add it at the factory for (and they have robots assembling it as apposed to humans taking it apart to add features). Let us know how it turns out. I haven't heard of one person actually doing this without paying out the nose for it, or even finishing.

 

Ok guys the shop cant do it apparently cause they need to have toyota do something when there done, I dont know what they are talking about...they didnt talk to me. The point is I need to tow a boat 200 miles to my houe tomorrow, without tranny cooler, oil cooler, and the hitch guy who is pretty knowledeable said im fine with a class 3 hitch (personally I disagree with that) but my parents are going with it so there is nothing I can do. The guy said to keep it out of overdrive, and to take it easy. We will definatly be watching engine temps and stuff. But the boat is 3600+1200trailer+gas and gear and wakeboard tower. So Im thinking around 5500 if even that. Is this that bad of an idea???

oh and were having all the towing equipment installed next week so this is more of a one time thing.

 

http://www.usa-trailer-hitches.com/hitchclasses.htm

So I'd say you'd be ok.... Just take it slow, keep it out of D if it keeps shifting on you. At highway speed, tail wind, flat or slight down hill you could probably use D, but downshift on the down hills to help hold it back and up hills to ease engine strain. You're getting the brake controller right? So that'll help. Keep an eye on engine temp. You can't monitor the tranny temp, but at least you can keep an eye on oil temp.

Try keep the weight balanced. If you can shift things inside the boat around a little to keep the back from sagging too much it'll handle better.

Oh, the only reason they do a class 4 on the tow package I think is to get up to the rated 6,500lbs since class 3's top out at 6,000 if they aren't weight distributing. If you have a weight distributing hitch for the trailer that will make it handle better. But for a 1 shot deal, it may not be worth the $300 or so they typically cost.

 

Thanks guys I towed it home yesterday with no trans cooler, or oil cooler. Boats have surge brakes so the brake controller wasnt needed. We towed it about 130 miles and kept it in 4th unless we were going up a down hill we used 3rd for the engine braking. We didnt put it in D at all. After we got home we drove another 30 miles to a local lake, im proud to say the tacoma was up to the bumper in water and towed the boat out with no trouble at all. The only thing im worried about is the back sags down ALOT! So were taking the truck in for the oil/trans cooler, and then hopefully getting the tsb leaf springs done at the dealership. Thanks for all your help guys.

 

Glad it went well for you!
If I had seen this before, I'd tell you the same as Tiger did. From my personal opinion if your only going to be traveling 30 miles to and 30 from the lake, You really shouldn't need any other item than what you already have. An external trans cooler I'm 50/50 about, not very expensive and easy to install.
The oil cooler, pass on it. It's not needed in your application, unless were talking about all 30 miles of up and down hills exceeding 3% grade.
The TSB may have ran out of warranty on your 05, but not to worry. There are better aftermarket AAL's out there than OEM. I have found the AAL are a better option and wish I would have gone that route instead of the TSB.
Have fun with that boat, too!!

 

I love my little truck but towing my flats boat today (around 1800 with gas etc.) reminded me how wimpy these trucks really are. Nothing wrong with that, it's just that tacomas are light duty trucks and there is no getting around that. There is definitely a full size diesel truck in my future. It would be great to keep my taco and do the SAS on it but probably not going to happen.

 

Headed into a 15 mph head wind on flat road and had to drop into fifth gear plus floor the pedal to go any faster than 60. Not very impressive performance. Not towing, the truck runs like a spotted-ass ape. They reall do need to put a serious V8 in these trucks or a hot diesel.

 

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Well I think we bought an extended warranty so hopefully the tsb will be covered, but we all know how it goes with warrantys. The 30 mile trip was only for this time around to get a feel of the boat, we will mostly be traveling arond 200 miles or so....about 3-5 hour drives depending on the lakes.

 

Hi Everyone. First off, I've read all 19 pages in this thread and searched exhaustively for answers.

I have a 2008 dbl cab, short box, 6spd manual 4x4 SR5 Power Package. The truck did not come with the tow package. I had them throw in the hitch when I bought the truck, but the wiring was not included. I took the truck to get the wiring done, which is 7 pin with only the standard 4 pins being wired into it. The other poles have pigtails of wiring is coming out and going nowhere. Now that I have a lightweight RV with electric trailer brakes (3000lbs), I would like to get a brake controller. I bought a Prodigy P3 http://www.tekonsha.com/product/details.asp?ProdID=90195&cat=1435 brake controller with the toyota/ prodigy adapter harness http://www.rvwholesalers.com/catalo...s-for-prodigy-brake-control-3040-17-0140.html. Last night I installed the controller and harness to the factory plug in, but there was no power to the controller. To make this controller functional what will I need to do? I'm a little confused about what the adapter harness did to simplify the install? I thought it would provide the power/ground connections similar to steps 10 and 11 in Chapter 10? Am I mistaken?

I assume I'll need to complete step 8 and run a 10ga wire down to the 7 pin and connect it to the unused pig tail that serves the brake controller. But where will the other end of the 10ga wire connect to?

I appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Dan

 

Without the truck having the towing package there is no power or ground going to that plug under the dash. The only thing that you will pick-up from there is the brake input signal, so the adapter you bought will save you that step, but you will have to run power, ground, circuit breaker and output lines from scratch as detailed in chapter 10.

Regards,

Maverick491

 

Thanks for the help Maverick. I think the generic wiring harness that came with the brake controller is probably better then the tacoma adapter harness. I'll have a go at it this weekend. Your instructions and materials list help a lot.

Dan

 

I have a 2010 tacoma without tow package. I had my toyota dealer put a hitch and 7 pin plug on the vehicle at purchase. I am going to buy a prodigy brake control. I thought I could just buy the pigtail and conect the controller to the plug near the kick panel. I noticed that I have 2 wires that are comming out of my round 7 pin trailer plug at the rear of the vehicle. One is blue and the other is purple. I am not sure where these are supose to connect to. Any help would be apreciated.

 

Sounds like they probably only ran 4 pole to the harness, and you're in the same boat that I am.

 

The BLUE is for the brakes. This will connector to the brake output from the controller.

Now the PURPLE is confusing. Purple isn't a known (or common) color for trailer wiring. I can probably conclude that this is for the Reverse/Aux circuit. It could also be for the constant (12v+) for charging the trailer brake battery. You will need to test light all the connections at the connector and compare to a diagram to determine what the function is and connect it properly.

The only thing that worries me is that if the dealer added the connector, their should be (3) wires not connected.
1. Brake
2. Reverse/Aux
3. Constant (12v+)

If there really is only (2) wires and the connected the wire for the Constant, how did they wire that in?

Again, the only way to tell is using a test light and verifying that each terminal is wires to the proper function. Here is a diagram, just make sure you compare to the truck side as it will be reversed on the trailer end (when laid out in a diagram, that is).

 

I don't understand. Do you not have the plug under your dash/near your kick panel? If you do, you should be able to use the Toyota plug and wires with the brake controller. I am getting ready to put a Prodigy in my truck and it seems pretty straight forward. I don't understand the reference to the 7 pin plugs in this context.

 

After removing the tape the dealer put on I also found a black wire too. Should these wires be into the rear wirring somewhere in the rear of the vehicle or do I have to run wires to the front of the vehicle. I found the plug near to the kick panel and thought all I had to do was plug in a brake control. I am wondering if the toyota dealership messed this all up. Thanks for any help.